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If you don't know what Keep-It does, maybe viewing the demonstration could provide an introduction. I'll try and give a brief overview here, but it's easier to see and use than explain. Keep-It is a piece of software that integrates with the Windows Explorer (file manager) to provide a new file type: an archive. Archives behave just like folders. You can put items (files and folders) in them, copy items from them, move them, rename them, and examine their properties. Archives contain revisions of the items you put in them. They put these in what we call snapshots. You now know all the terminology. Let me explain this further. An archive is a special type of folder (like the recycle bin, or briefcase) that can store one or more revisions of any item (file or folder). Revisions are grouped in time-stamped containers called snapshots. Here's what it looks like: 
Here we have an archive (called 'Sample Archive.kar') with two snapshots. ('Snapshot;1' and 'Snapshot;2'). The screen shot shows that 'Snapshot;2' is open. 'Snapshot;2' contains a text file revision called 'document.txt;2'. The ';2' is shorthand for the 'second revision'. What all this means is that a text file, 'document.txt', has been placed in the archive, 'Sample Archive.kar'. This caused the first snapshot, 'Snapshot;1', to be created. It contains the first (known) revision of 'document.txt' ('document.txt;1'). 'document.txt' was then modified, and a second snapshot created. This snapshot, 'snapshot;2', contains the second revision, 'document.txt;2'. As I said, it's easier to use than explain! Still, I hope all that is clear. Read it again if you're not sure (or see the demonstration). This help document uses bold to highlight Explorer menu options.
An archive can be created in any regular folder (whether on a network or local drive). The archive does not need to be on the same drive as the items you wish to archive. In fact, placing the archive on a different drive can protect you against disk failure! You create an archive in the same way you create a folder; from the New option on the File menu, or the New option on the background context menu.
You browse an archive just like a folder. You can 'open' or 'explore' an archive in the same way you might a folder. 'Explore' gives you a tree view in left hand pane. This can aid your navigation of the archive. Open an archive and you'll see any contained snapshots. Snapshots are moments in time. Open a snapshot, and you'll see the items you've added at the moment the snapshot was created. Because the items are frozen in time, we call them revisions. The item revisions can be identified by their semi-colon/number extension. An archive may contain many snapshots, and many revisions of a single item. No single snapshot can contain more than one revision of an item (at any moment in time a file can only have one content!), but many snapshots can contain the same revision of an item if other (archived) items have changed. This might be best understood if you consider an archive containing two files. If only one files changes, each snapshot will contain the same revision of the static file, but different revisions of the changing one. Keep-It allows you to browse your file's history, like explorer allows you to browse you file's location. The views within an archive are much the same as those within a regular folder. In the Details view some of the columns are new. Snapshots have a Comment column, which can be used by the owner to better explain the contents of the snapshot. Revisions have a In Folder column which shows the path of the working item. In addition, Revisions have a Created in column, which shows which snapshot the revision was first recorded in. An item revision display the same icon as the real item. In addition the icon is overlaid with either a small blue triangle, meaning the revision is new to the snapshot, or a small green plus, meaning the item was first added in the snapshot (so it will be revision one).
You delete an archive just as you might a folder. There is nothing special about an archive, other than it might contain all your work's history! Deleting an archive does not delete the items it contains. It only deletes the revisions you've been 'capturing'. The actual items still remain in their original, working location.
You never really add an item (file or folder) to an archive, you just add a reference to it. Keep-It uses the archive's reference to record a new revision of the item every time it changes and you create a new snapshot. When you first 'add' an item, an initial revision will be recorded. From now on, whenever you select New Snapshot, the item will be 'scanned' for any changes. If a change is detected, a new snapshot will be created, in which the new revision will be stored. You can add an item to an archive in the same way you might add an item to a folder. You can cut-and-paste, drag-and-drop, or use the SendTo mechanism. When you add an item to an archive, a new snapshot will be created. You'll normally see this activity by way of the status dialog (although you can disable this. See Options for more details). If the item is already present in the archive, a new snapshot will be considered. If the item (or any other contained item) has changed, a new snapshot will be created.
You can remove an item from further consideration (further revisioning), if the item exists directly under the latest snapshot. If the item is contained within a folder, that's contained within an snapshot, you (obviously) can't remove it without destroying the integratity of the folder's revisions. Removing an item from an archive really only tells Keep-It not to consider further revisions of the item. It does not remove previous revisions of the item. So, even though you'll no longer be adding new revisions, you can still restore older ones. Removing an item from an archive happens automatically when the item is deleted. That is, if an archive contains a reference to 'document.txt', and 'document.txt' no longer exists (e.g. you sent it to the recycle bin), the next snapshot will in effect remove the file from the archive. Should 'document.txt' be restored (by whatever means), you would need to re-add it to the archive for further revisions to be recorded. This is why adding the folder containing 'document.txt' might make more sense; whatever is in the folder when a snapshot is taken will be in the folder revision. You delete an item from further consideration by opening the latest snapshot. All the items directly contained within the latest snapshot may be deleted in the same way you delete any item in a folder. Note: deleted references are not sent to the recycle bin!
When you create a New Snapshot, you tell Keep-It to 'scan' all the items in the latest snapshot for change. If one or more items are found to have changed, a new snapshot will be created to contain the new set of revisions. If the scan finds no changes, Keep-It does not create a new snapshot. You can instruct Keep-It to create a new snapshot in a number of ways. The most obvious way is using an open archive's File menu, or toolbar button. You can also select Snapshot from an archive's context menu (whether it's open or not). Another way to create a new snapshot, is to add an item(s) to the archive. If the item(s) is new to the archive, a new snapshot will be created containing the current revision (in addition to the current revision of any existing items). If the item(s) you add are already present in the archive, a new snapshot will still be considered. This means you can in effect invoke Snapshot simply by dragging (or cutting) and dropping (or pasting) an item to the archive. You can also have Keep-It schedule regular snapshots. See Schedule Snapshots for more information.
Archives are just like folders; you can call them to anything you can call a folder. Archives must have a '.kar' extension. This can be hidden via standard (View/Folder Options) explorer options. Before you can rename an archive, it must be closed. If you attempt to rename an open archive, you will be warned of a sharing violation.
You can delete any snapshot within an open archive. Deleting a snapshot can leave certain revisions of items unobtainable (where a revision is unique to the doomed snapshot)! You delete a snapshot in the same way you do a file or folder; open the archive, select the snapshot(s), and select delete either from the Edit menu, the item's context menu, or by pressing the delete key on the keyboard. Deleting a snapshot really deletes nothing from the archive. The snapshot is simply not shown again. None of the snapshot or revision numbering is affected (you'll still be able to see how many revisions of an item are contained, even if some may not be available).
You can restore any revision(s) by all the conventional Explorer mechanism. Drag-and-drop and cut-and-paste can be used to copy revisions in the same way you might files and folders. In addition you may select a revision(s) and use the File or item's context menu. This method provides a simply dialog to help restore the revision.
You can restore all the revisions contained within a snapshot from either the File menu, or the snapshot's context menu. In either case you will be provided with a simple dialog to help restore the snapshot.
Archives individually maintain a set of options. These options (settings) can effect how revisions are stored, and how new snapshots are shown. Keep-It only ever stores differences within an archive. These differences can be compressed (making the archive smaller, but snapshot generation slower). By default, archives are created with compression enabled. You set how changes are stored in the archive Settings. Wheather an archive is open, or not, you can always inspect an Archive's settings. When an archive is closed, go to its properties and select Settings. When an archive is open go to Folder Options dialog under the Veiw pulldown. The Settings dialog allows you to turn compression on and off, and also set the level of compression. You higher the level of compression, the slower new snapshot generation will be. The dialog also contains settings affecting the way new snapshots are shown. Normally (by default), a status dialog (with an elephant on it) is shown. This dialog shows how many items have been processed, changed, deleted, and added. The dialog (by default) normally remains visible after the snapshot is created (so you can inspect the contents). You can change this behaviour either in the status dialog box itself (Auto-dismiss), or in the Settings. You can also elect not to show this dialog at all.
You can elect to exclude certain file types from an archive, or decide to only include certain file types. File types are identified by their name. You set which files are excluded or included in Settings. Wheather an archive is open, or not, you can always inspect an Archive's settings. When an archive is closed, go to its properties and select Settings. When an archive is open go to Folder Options dialog under the Veiw pulldown. The frame labeled Exclusions/Inclusions contains controls allowing you to add name 'templates' to either an Exclude or Include list. Name templates are regular expressions that match the files you wish to exclude or include. E.g. '*.exe' in the exclude list would exclude any file who's name ended in '.exe'. '*.?pp' in the include list would only allow files who's name ended with dot ('.'), some single character, and 'pp' to be included in the archive (e.g. '*.cpp', '*.hpp', etc.).
Snapshots can be automatically generated at certain times (e.g. every third Wednesday in the month), and/or at certain periods (e.g. every 30 minutes between 08:00 and 17:00). Keep-It uses the Window's Task Scheduler to create new snapshots. You must have Task Scheduler installed and running to use this feature. You can see if Task Scheduler is installed by the presence (or not) of the Scheduled Tasks folder in My Computer. If Task Scheduler is not installed, go to Installing Task Scheduler. To schedule automatic snapshots, go to the Schedule dialog page in either the archive's properties, or from the archive's Folder options under the View menu (depending on whether you have the archive open or not). If you can't see the Schedule tab, then it is likely you don't have Task Scheduler installed. On the Schedule dialog page, you can select New to create a new schedule, or you may edit an existing schedule. See Task Scheduler help for further options. Note: Keep-It snapshot jobs are not shown in the Task Scheduler folder to avoid clutter.
Wheather an archive is open, or not, you can always inspect its properties from the File or archive's context menu. The properties dialog contains two or three tabbed page: General, Settings, and conditional (on whether Task Scheduler is installed) Schedule. The General page shows such details as might be found on any file or folder property page. Creation time, modification time, and access time, all have their standard meanings, as does the size of the archive. The Settings page shows the number of snapshots recorded, when the last snapshot was created, the archive options discussed above, and file inclusion/exclusions discused above. The Schedule page is only shown when the Task Scheduler is installed. This page allows you to schedule automatic snapshot generation and is discussed above.
Snapshot properties are shown by first opening the archive containing the snasphot to be examined, selecting the snapshot, and then using either the File or snapshot's content menu. A snapshot's property dialog contains three (tabbed) pages: General, Contents, and Comments. The General page contains details about when the snapshot was created (which can also be seen in the detailed view), when the snapshot was superseded, and how many items it contains. The Contents page shows what items are immediatly stored in the snapshot, together with which revision of the item is recorded. If the revision is new to the snapshot, the item's icon is overlaid with a small blue triangle. If the item is new to the snapshot (it'll be revision one), the item's icon is overlaid with a small green plus. If an item has been removed from the snapshot (either deleted or removed from the archive manually), the item's icon is overlaid with a red cross. The Comments page provides a user editable area to add notes about the snapshot. The comment can be viewed in the Details view of the explorer. This gives users the ability to label snapshots more than might be possible with a name alone. The comments could contain details of who contributed to the snapshot, or what changes were made.
Revision properties are shown by first opening the snapshot containing the revision to be examined, selecting the revision, and then using either the File or revision's content menu. A revision's property dialog contains two (tabbed) pages: General, and Revisions. The General page shows what you might have seen had you examined the properties of the item at the time the containing snapshot wa created. That is, the properties of item when the revision was created. Here you can see the revision's size, creation, modification, and access times, and any attributes the item may have possessed (read-only, etc.). The Revisions page shows the complete history of the item in a list of revisions. A little red dot over the item's icon indicates which revision you are examining in detail. This list contains when the revision was modified, and in which snapshot it was first recorded.
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Site last updated: June 6th, 2002 Comments or questions about this site? Please Email us. Copyright © 1999,2000,2001 Remember International Associates Ltd. All Rights Reserved. |
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